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Award-winning author V.S. Kemanis is an attorney and dance artist. Her stories are collected in five volumes and have appeared in many publications and anthologies, including most recently Autumn Noir, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, The Crooked Road Vol. 3, and Me Too Short Stories. Her collection Your Pick: Selected Stories won the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for best story collection. Kemanis draws on her years of experience in New York's criminal justice system in writing legal suspense novels featuring prosecutor Dana Hargrove who, like the author, juggles the demands of family life with a high-powered legal career.
Reviewed by Trudi LoPreto for Readers' Favorite
Seven Shadows by V.S. Kemanis centers around Dana, a trial judge, and her family. We are present in the courtroom as Dana hears the evidence, makes legal decisions, and decides the final outcome of cases. We also meet her husband, children, sister, and young niece. Dana is unhappy with her recent empty nest and nervous about how to handle upcoming cases, making her withdraw into herself and pull away from her family. With each new cryptic letter received, it becomes more obvious that Dana is in danger and her old law friends step in to help and try to figure out who is doing this. When the showdown finally happens, Dana is alone with the letter writer and afraid but trying hard to stay calm. To tell you anymore would be a spoiler, so you will have to read Seven Shadows yourself to find out the climactic ending.
Seven Shadows by V.S. Kemanis delivers as a legal story and there were certainly some thrilling moments taking place. There is a lot of legal jargon and court cases that take place for a good part of the book; there is also some family interaction and a little look into the world of security and protection. All of this connects very well as Dana and her family begin to receive cryptic letters in the mail with unusual comparisons. While at times I found Seven Shadows had a little too much legal jargon and detail, it was not enough to stop me from continuing to hold my breath through the danger and finish the book. I was pleased that there was no unnecessary sex, violence or bad language but instead just a good clean story. If you like courtroom drama, family relationships, and a thrilling whodunnit, this book is a must-read.
